Colonel Iteter fmwfeer 151 



rector, the Rev. Mr. Dibdin, on the subject of St. Paul's 

 shipwreck." 



The Mr. Dibdin here referred to was the Rev. 

 Thomas Frognall Dibdin, a noted bibliographer, author 

 of " Bibliomania," one of the founders of the Roxburghe 

 Club, and a nephew of the famous song-writer. 



Besides being a musical amateur of the first class, 

 Colonel Hawker was also an amateur actor of exceptional 

 ability. He used to enliven his tedious journeys by 

 coach by assuming different characters for the deception 

 of each batch of fresh passengers on the short stages, 

 to the mingled bewilderment and amusement of the 

 coachman and guard. 



At the Great Exhibition of 1851 the Colonel exhibited 

 some very ingenious improvements in firearms of his 

 own invention which attracted considerable attention 

 both among sportsmen and military men. He hoped 

 that the War Office would have adopted some of them ; 

 but when did any inventor ever succeed in convincing 

 Red Tape ? His hopes, of course, were disappointed. 



Colonel Hawker's last shooting season was that of 

 1852-53. "Not a shot at wild fowl this season," he 

 writes ; " but I beat all the neighbours at partridge- 

 shooting in September, killing 164 birds." 



The final entries are the following in 1853 : 



"June 2gtk. Sunday. Being too weak to walk, I 

 went in a donkey chaise to morning church at Milford 

 (where, as well as at Longparish, Mrs. Hawker had me 

 prayed for when not expected to recover), to return 

 thanks to God for my escape from death in my long and 

 dangerous illness, through which I had not been in 



